Alert & Easygoing

For those of you who have not yet had the chance to meet Penelope in person, I thought I would give you a sense of her burgeoning personality. The two words we hear most often to describe her are alert and easygoing (or some variation on that word) . Since she was two months old, and maybe even younger, various people (from her pediatrician Dr. Hamburger to strangers at restaurants and her caregivers at daycare) have described her as alert or "tuned-in." The other thing we hear a lot is that she is very easy going, chill, or content. [I am quite sure that she does not get that later trait from me. I am a lot of things, but easy going or chill is rarely my natural state. I think of myself as much more high strung or Type A than that.]

So far these two traits seem to be combining for a near perfect baby. (Am I ridiculously, over-the-top in love with her or what?) She is learning things all of the time and interested in the things going on around her, but is relatively low maintenance (relatively at least - I do realize that the one thing babies in general are not is low maintenance), not much seems to bother her really. I am sure that by articulating all of this I am probably dooming myself to a sharp personality shift any day now, but for now I will take it.

Pink

A wise woman (Penelope's Aunt Mandy) once told me that when having a daughter you should embrace the Pink. Mandy has a daughter of her own, Penelope's cousin Ally, so she definitely has some experience in this arena. Mandy said this in part because while I was pregnant with Penelope I was nervous about being overwhelmed with pink everything (baby clothes, shower decorations, etc..) - I don't really consider myself a "girlie girl" and don't really see ourselves raising Penelope as such (although I am also well aware that we don't control this and that by saying this out loud she is most likely to become a Disney-Princess-In-Training). Anyway, I am here to announce that apparently I have embraced the pink and didn't even realize it. On two occasions I have come to pick up Penelope at daycare and heard the caregivers in her room call her "Pink," which I can only conclude is because she wears so much pink clothing! Oh well, so much for pretending little girls shouldn't be dressed in pink as much as possible!

Cherry Blossom Baby

Among other less positive things, DC is known around the world for its Cherry Blossom trees. The most prominent grouping of them is around the Tidal Basin where the Jefferson Memorial is - drawing thousands of visitors to the area for the 4-5 days every spring when they are in perfect bloom. It is less well known, however, that there are Cherry Blossoms actually all over the city. We happen to have some in the park at the end of our block. So we thought they would be a perfect back-drop for a few Penelope pix. They didn't turn out quite as well as we had hoped, but nonetheless, we thought we would share. Hope you enjoy!

Great Grandparents

Penelope is lucky to have four great grandparents in her life. This week she met one in person. She has met another via Skype, and is looking forward to meeting more over Memorial Day weekend. Here are some pix from her in-person meeting with Great Grandpa Nevius:

and her Skype meeting of Great Grandpa Noonan (and her Aunt Rachel and Cousin Gable) on Christmas Day:

PJ's Commute

Penelope is an urban baby. Things that were unique to us growing up (like riding the subway) are going to be old hat to her before she can even remember these things. She rides the metro every day to her work (daycare) and most nights home (sometimes we walk). I'm sure we are a little bit of a site to see, rolling her monster truck stroller with all sorts of bags hanging off of it onto the train, but it works for us.

So this is our little journey each morning.

- Ben

Things That Make Having a Child More Concrete (hard to believe you would need anything more than the baby herself)

Loyal blog followers, may I present the list of things that catch me off guard every once in awhile and really bring home the idea that, Yes, I am a mother, and Yes I have a daughter named Penelope:

• being called Penelope's mom

• saying "My daughter Penelope"

• Labeling things with her name, and when I say things, I guess I mean everything that will ever go near her daycare, and when I say labeling, I mean waterproof labels, iron-on labels, etc...

• getting her Social Security card in the mail

• getting mail at our house addressed to Penelope Champa

• picking out an outfit for picture day and relatedly picking out a school photo package

• calling the dog by the baby's name for once, instead of the opposite

• beginning the life-long gauntlet of fundraising -- sure this time it is only a silent auction that you have to sell tickets for, as well as buy raffle tickets for, as well as bring a baked good for, as well as donate an item for (do I sound bitter?, I am not actually, I just didn't realize how soon all of this stuff would be coming, apparently 4 months is the magic number)

Lawyer In Training

It's official, Penelope has already begun her training to be a lawyer. Earlier this week I was trying to make a deadline and get something filed with a court. Long story short, we didn't get it filed that day, but what did happen was a 20 to 25 minute meeting after 6 pm with one of my office's Deputy Directors, one of my office's Assistant Directors, myself, and Penelope. That's right, she sat (or more accurately stood on my lap) quietly while the three of us discussed the strategy of which legal arguments to make in our filing. She is either the most boring baby known to man, or the best ever. She looked around, played with her hands and my necklace, and generally was as pleasant as can be for the entire meeting - the only noises she made were the occasional adorable coos in totally acceptable decibel levels. It was pretty amazing. My bosses were impressed (one of them did not have the heads up that she would be attending our meeting). I think I may be jinxing myself, but she is quite simply a great baby!